Thursday, August 13, 2009

TechCrunch on Google Maps

CrunchPanoramaNo, CrunchPanorama isn't a Michael Arrington tracking map, although I'm sure a lot of people would pay to see that. CrunchPanorama is actually a Google Map of TechCrunch's database of technology companies, people, and investors, 'CrunchBase'.

The map has been created to showcase Maptimize Version 2. Maptimize is a clustering solution for map markers that solves the issue of displaying high numbers of markers on a Google Map. It is a highly scalable clustering solution capable of handling 1m+ markers.

CrunchPanorama was built using the API of CrunchBase to enable you to view which tech companies are located in your area. The map markers are sorted by category. It is also possible to view all of the database, or exclude companies in the 'deadpool', or even view only those companies that have ceased operating.

The map includes a slider so that you can select a date-range and view tech companies that were launched within the selected time scale.